


Don't Leave

by GentleTouchGinger, PaintedPetrichor



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic, F/M, Shipping, Soul Eater Angst Week 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 03:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4730813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GentleTouchGinger/pseuds/GentleTouchGinger, https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintedPetrichor/pseuds/PaintedPetrichor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a simple disagreement turns into a full-blown argument, Tsubaki struggles to fix her relationship with Blackstar. (Please look at the notes before you read! >.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Leave

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Okay, so this is our entry for Soul Eater Angst Week 2015, "Things Left Unsaid". It was written in a roleplay format, so that's why there's so many breaks. We really hope you enjoy this! It's been rotting in Google Drive for too long. =P

"Don’t go, please!" Tsubaki begged, running after Blackstar as he stormed away.

She wasn't exactly sure how their fight had gotten this serious. It had all started with her snapping at him about cleaning up, but it had escalated into a shouting match about him appreciating her sacrifices. Then she'd brought in the StarClan, and he'd brought in Masamune, and when she retaliated with a comment about how weak he truly was, he’d stormed off, heading for the door. She didn't care about winning anymore, she just couldn’t handle being alone. She hadn't meant any of it; she really hadn't.

"BlackStar, please. I'm sorry."

——————

He couldn’t believe this. After all they’d been through, she still thought of him the same way everyone else did. He thought she was different, dammit- he thought she understood.

Tsubaki followed him as he made a beeline for the door, a hastily packed bag flung over his shoulder. Her desperate pleas were eating away at him, compelling him to just put it aside, apologize, and forget all that had been said. But he couldn’t just give in like that; The Great BlackStar doesn’t do that.

He grabbed the doorknob and threw the door open, but before he could slam it shut, he paused.

“How could you say something like, Tsubaki?” he asks, his tone an unnatural, deadly calm. “I thought you were different- is that what you really think?”

——————

"I…” She struggled to find an excuse. “I just got frustrated, I d-didn't mean any of it," she promised blindly, grabbing his wrist. "I'm sorry, please don't go!"

She kept envisioning worst case scenarios. Images of BlackStar with a new partner, who looked suspiciously like Soul, wouldn't leave her mind. She rarely regretted things. She always thought out her decisions, or trusted her instincts if the time wasn't there. But this whole fight had been wrong. She regretted everything, every little part of it.

"I'm so sorry, BlackStar. Just please, don’t leave me.”

——————

BlackStar grips the doorknob tighter as he yanks his wrist out of her grip. He lets the momentum shift him away another step, as if the distance would keep him from breaking down and giving in. Why couldn’t he have just cleaned the damn kitchen, he thought. He didn’t want to be in this mess. Not now, not ever.

“If you hadn’t meant it you wouldn’t have said it,” he spat, his gaze hovering at the door frame. “I trusted you, dammit- I thought I could trust you to understand.”

——————

Tsubaki's hands shook as she stared at him, too afraid to take another step. "I do understand. I understand, BlackStar, I just lost control," she whimpered, speaking quickly and in a high, broken voice that felt foreign. "I lost control, and I'm sorry, I'm s-so sorry, just come back inside and we can talk this out. We can f-fix it."

She knew she was crying, but she couldn't care, not right now. She didn't want him to shut the door, all she could focus on was convincing him to stay.

——————

Why did she have to fucking cry like that? Why couldn’t she make this easy and just be mad at him? Why can’t he just storm out and leave her? He didn’t move, his hand still on the knob; Not leaving, but still not staying. The door handle rattled, probably in the need of replacing. Yeah, that.

“How do you plan to fix this?” he asked.

——————

"I don't know," she admitted, wiping her eyes. She was weak, she was so weak. How'd she manage to do this? At least he hadn't left...yet.

"I don't know, BlackStar. I...I d-didn't mean any of it. I just...I wanted to hurt you." The words stung as she said them, and tumorous guilt and terror expanded inside her chest. "I w-wanted to hurt you because I w-was mad."

——————

“What, you thought something like that could... could hurt me?” His gym bag slips to the floor and he doesn’t catch it. “That’s so dumb, Tsubaki.” BlackStar swings the door backwards, the springy doorstop catching it before it dents the wall. The whole damn thing’s going to need to be replaced if this keeps up.

He steps forward ever-so slightly, so much so that it looks more like he’s only leaning. His eyes still don’t meet her’s.

“They’re just stupid words, stupid wrong words, they can’t hurt a god like me!”

——————

She stares at him, her face slightly hopeful, but also wracked with sadness. "Then why….why are you running?" she asked with her voice calmer than it had been for the duration of the argument. "If i-it was wrong, and I…I apologized, then why…why are you still going to l-leave me?"

——————

BlackStar finally looked her in her tear-stained eyes with his own, and it wasn’t long after that that his voice hitched and embarrassing sobs wracked his body. “If-if you don’t believe in me, then who will?” he cried, stomping forward to get in her face. “Who, Tsubaki?”

——————

Tsubaki shrunk back, partially from instinctive fear at his anger, but also from horror at seeing her partner in such a state. BlackStar wasn't supposed to cry, or shake like teeth chatter.

"You...you've got it all wrong," she whimpered, reaching a hand out to try and soothe him. "I b-believe in you, I w-was...I was lying to hurt you. I j-just started lying..."

But she hadn't just said lies. She knew that, and so did he. That was the reason they were in this mess; the lies and the truth were all mashed together, and now neither party knew what was real and what wasn't.

"D-don't cry," she begged. "And don't g-go."

——————

“I…”

BlackStar felt compelled should shrug her hand off- reject her affection because he didn’t need it and he could handle himself just fine. He didn’t, but whether it was out of kindness or just lack of will was unclear.

Truly looking into her eyes, feeling deep into her soul, he could no longer deny that now she was telling the truth, and that leaving would absolutely shatter her. Not to mention himself.

“I… I won’t.”

——————

Relief washed over her features. The ghost of a smile appeared on her face, and she rested her hand gently on one of his fists. She wiped her eyes again with the back of her wrist.

"You're strong," Tsubaki murmured, looking into BlackStar's eyes confidently. "You're the strongest person I know, BlackStar, and you're j-just going to keep getting stronger."

She chewed her lip nervously and looked away. "And you...you're not a...a monster. I never...m-meant that, I w-was m-mad. "

She was starting to break down again, the corners of her resolve slowly dissolving. It was terrifying, that BlackStar had the power to render her this emotionally helpless. She supposed they both wielded it, considering how distraught he was, but that didn't make it any less powerful.

——————

“That’s okay,” BlackStar said quietly, trying to steady his breathing. He laced his fingers in-between hers, and took her other hand as well. “And.. I’m sorry for bringing up your brother. That was wrong, and mean, and disrespectful and all that crap. And for not cleaning up like you asked. You… you don’t deserve that.”

——————

She shook her head, squeezing his hands as if she still feared he'd run off, and abandon her here.

"I d-don't care about that. Not any...m-more," she mumbled, still averting his gaze. "We both said things we...we sh-shouldn't have. So c-can we p-please...please forgive each other?"

——————

BlackStar nodded. "Y-yeah. Yeah we can. I'm... I'm really sorry, Tsubaki."

Apologizing felt weak, he thought, but anything else would've felt wrong.

——————

"I'm sorry too," she whimpered, looking up and trying to meet his gaze. "I k-know…I know you've always struggled with y-your family…and you….you a-aren't anything l-like them. You're di-different…you're kind, and l-loyal, and b-brave…"

——————

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” he insisted. “I don’t care about them, they were never really my family.” Not to say that the rest of the world didn’t see it that way.

“But Tsubaki, you… you’re right. You deserve a better partner than me, one who’s not such a dick.”

——————

“No,” Tsubaki dismissed in a soothing tone, stepping closer to him. “I don’t want anyone else. You...you’re always there when I really need it-” She rested her forehead against his chest. “And we...we’re weapon and meister, BlackStar. We fit. No one...no one else knows me as well as you do. And no one else can take care of you like I do. If you...if you stopped being my partner, I don’t know what I would do.”

——————

BlackStar’s hands went cautiously to her shoulders, trying to comfort her in the least awkward way possible with her leaning against him. For someone who presented himself as the center of the universe, he was utterly stunned that someone else could even think near the same of him. And her words… he couldn’t have described his own feelings better.

He reached back and felt for the abused door and pulled it shut for good.

“Me too.”

——————

Warmth swelled inside of Tsubaki, as she heard the door click shut. She was still for a moment, but eventually gave in and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him as if he would try to run away again, and she was the only thing that could keep him here.

“I won’t snap at you anymore,” she promised. “I...I really am sorry, BlackStar....”

——————

“I’m sorry, I am,” BlackStar said, his voice muffled as he clung to her. “And… I’ll listen to you more, and help out. I swear.”

——————

She drew back, smiling. How she loved her sweet, brave, perfect meister. Well...even if he wasn’t exactly perfect, he was close enough. Arguing with him was like arguing with a part of herself.

“Come on,” she called, taking one of his hands and leading him back into their apartment.

——————

He let her lead him back in, feeling a weight lift off of him as she welcomed him back inside. She reached for his bag, but he snatched it up before she could collect it herself.

“I’ll uh, I’ll just go unpack this real quick,” BlackStar said, giving her hand one more pulsing squeeze before he let go. He shuffled back into their room and dumped his stuff out onto the floor.

He really hadn’t thought his plan through very well; all he had managed to grab was a few shirts, his toothbrush, and only one pair of boxers. What had he been doing, forgetting how much he needed his partner to keep him on track?

After he stuffed his things back in their place he found Tsubaki waiting for him in the kitchen.

——————

Tsubaki drew her hands back suddenly as hot water seared her fingers. She turned the cold water on hastily, rubbing her slightly reddened hand on her dress. As the sink water eventually cooled, she started to wash the skyscrapers of dishes. She rinsed out cereal bowls, scrubbed burnt cookie crisps off baking sheets, washed out the tea-stained mugs, and dumped half-eaten sandwiches in the trash.

There was nothing in the world that could make her say this out loud, especially after what had nearly happened, but BlackStar was a complete slob. The fight had been blown out of proportion, but at least it hadn’t been for a completely pointless reason.

——————

While Tsubaki had made a good start on the mound of dishes, there was still far to go before a significant dent could even be discerned. BlackStar came up to the sink next to her, and proceeded to knock a plate down into the dishwater as he reached for a rag. While the plate managed to get by unbroken, BlackStar didn’t think the wave of soapy water that had sloshed out onto his partner boded well for him.

——————

Tsubaki gasped as the water soaked into the clothing. “BlackStar!” she shrieked out of habit, but regretted the outburst immediately after. She touched the soaked fabric mournfully. “Just...just let me change into my pajamas. I’ll be right back.”

——————

“Sorry,” BlackStar muttered, taking over for her. After a minute of him scratching away at an old pot she returned in dry clothing, but when she went to reach into the sink again he held up a hand to stop her.

“It’s okay, I got this,” he told her, turning his back to her as he leaned further over the sink.

——————

“Are you sure?” Tsubaki asked. “BlackStar...do you even know how to wash dishes?” Honestly, she’d be happy to leave the pile of dishes to him, but after their argument, she wasn’t sure if making him clean the kitchen on his own was the best idea. Even if he had splashed water on her and created half the mess himself.

——————

“I’ll figure it out,” BlackStar insisted. “Can’t be that hard, not for a big star like me! You should go relax or something.”

——————

Tsubaki smiled, leaning over and kissing him lightly on the cheek.

“Thank you,” she whispered, stepping back. “Thank you so much.”

BlackStar turned around. “Forget about it,” he said. “You’ve done enough, Tsubaki.”

She took his hands- soap, dishwater and all. They stood like that, everything quiet but the sink dripping and the cars rushing past outside, until he couldn’t take it anymore and wrapped her in a tight hug.

BlackStar held her close, almost painfully so, and in that moment Tsubaki knew that he was staying. That he wouldn’t leave, that he was here and that was all that mattered.

The faucet dripped, and soap suds fizzled, and they were still partners.

They would be alright.


End file.
